Ringleaders' Forfeiture
by KillerCurrent
Summary: Suddenly appearing in Zone 0, the Batter named Marco takes up his arms and begins his quest; to purify the corrupted land that surrounds him. But with only his wits and powers to guide him, will he be successful or be sent back into an eternal coma? (OFF AU)


**Author's note: This fanfic is inspired by HOME but will follow the events of OFF, hence why there will be more than 3 Zones.**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own OFF, HOME, or Star vs. the Forces of Evil, if I did, Star would've murdered Ludo at this point plus Jozlyn would have a deadlier skill set for crowd control.**

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 **Chapter 1:** **Open eyes**

A pair of lenses slowly opened themselves onto their quiet and lone surrounding. Slowly but surely, the pair were fully opened in less than a minute as the being whom they belonged to was fully awake and aware of his surroundings.

Marco Diaz, otherwise known as the Batter, woke up from his slumber and found himself standing in a mysterious place. His hand felt upon the visor of his black cap as he adjust his headgear which came with the outfit he donned which was comprised of a black-striped white collared shirt, and black sleeves, pants, and running shoes, plus the black horizontal lines underneath his eyes.

Marco stood on a small square space surround by the opaque, white, and water-like substance, and the only direction available for him to take was northern path. With his trusty metal bat in hand, the Batter stretched his arms one last time before he walked forward. As he walked, the memory of his objective realized in his mind through a familiar voice.

" _Purify the world."_ Was the voice Marco heard in his head which belonged to himself. His feet continued talking towards his north which headed towards a large building in the distance. He stopped dead on his feet once he spotted someone else in the distance. He narrowed his eyes as slowly got closer to the figure.

The figure in question appeared to be humanoid, and it seemed to be walking towards the Batter. Once it was at a fairly close distance from him, he saw that it was narrowing its eyes at him. When it got closer however, Marco resisted the urge to hit her with his bat out of instinct.

He observed her features quickly and listed them on his head; long hair, horn headbands, green dress, strange boots, and a strange star-shaped necklace.

"I must still be sleeping because I don't see a dream boat like you when I'm awake, then again, this place always empty." The figure mused with a feminine and perky voice, having a slightly flirty tone to her statement. "Real or not, I think I'll introduce myself, I am the Judge, but you can call me Star," She gestured to herself as she held a small object in her other hand. "And who might you be?" She giggled.

"I'm the Batter, and I have a sacred mission to fulfill." Marco answered with a straightforward tone.

"I see, so why are you here then?" Star raised an eyebrow towards Marco.

"I need your help."

"Many people need my help, you know, everyone knows who I am. I'm a pretty big deal and many people just want my help." She started. "I help them in their problems and make sure they don't forget to breathe their daily dose of smoke every day."

"I'm not talking about that kind of help."

"Oh, then what kind of help do you need from me?"

"I need someone to guide me around here, I have a sacred mission to fulfill; I must eliminate the specters and purify the world." Marco explained to Star.

"Well, that seems cool, after all there are these weird ghosts running around the other Zones lately." She replied. "Alright then, I'll help you through this area I suppose, but other than that, there isn't much."

"Much appreciated." He tipped his hat to her.

"Thanks, now c'mon." She was eager to show this stranger around, even though him appearing out of nowhere and coming to her for help seemed a little strange. _"I can trust him, especially with a cause like that."_ She thought as she led him closer to the building.

"Welcome to Zone 0, Mr. Batter." She said with a grin as she gestured towards the building which was a yellow as the metallic ground both of them stood on. "So, um, the storage filled with a lot of chests in through the middle door over there and that one door on its right in an entrance toward the main exit." She said as both of them walked towards the mentioned storage area. "The ladder to the right of the storage door leads to the roof." She pointed to the ladder ascending upwards. "Got all that?"

The Batter nodded in response.

"Right." The Judge said before she started climbing up the ladder, making it on the balcony platform before the Batter followed suit. "You know, just a question, how adept are you in combat?" She inquired the Batter as he successfully made it on the platform.

"Fairly decent." He answered as he straightened himself up.

"I see, well I want to test that actually. Because once you leave Zone 0, you'll pretty be out there, potentially going to get beat up by many hostile things, plus those specters you want to get rid off." To him her motive as at least understandable. "So, c'mon, Batter, show me that bat in your hand isn't just for show." She dared.

"I think it'd be safer if we did that on the roof." Less risk of getting hurt gives more potential to purify specters. He couldn't afford suffering an injury now; it was only the beginning of his quest.

"Wha? What do you—" The Judge nearly stepped off the rightmost ledge of the balcony which made her eyes widen. He was right on the money about safety. "Okay. Let's continue up to the roof." She started climbing and made it to the roof before the Batter followed suit.

"Alright then, I suppose you already know the rules of engagement?" She asked which got her a nod from him. "Okay, knock down your opponent only though, no deaths, understand?"

"Got it."

The Judge drew the mysterious object from earlier from her pocket, which was revealed to be a wand. She formed a defensive stance by bringing her left hand up front with his wand right behind it. The Batter followed by standing upright before bringing the hard receiving end of his bat behind his neck, assuming the position of a normal batter about to receive a ball from a pitcher.

The Judge went in first with a quick jab and the Batter response by merely stepping aside. She then surprised him by rolling towards him like a wheel and gave him a rising kick with her two feet. He felt the wind getting knocked out of him as the Judge rolled backwards onto her defensive stance.

" _Sneaky."_ He remarked before he charged towards her, a battering hit readily aimed towards her leg.

The Judge was seemingly too quick the draw but the Batter was able to dupe her and instead drew a hit on her shoulder, taking her by surprise. After having his bat connect quickly on his first hit, the Batter seemingly went at her relentlessly, forcing her into walking to a backwards direction as he swung his bat with his might and speed.

Even though she could see the openings in each step and hit he took, the Batter's seemingly unending assault left the judge with no choice. With one final step backwards, she could feel that there were no more objects to step on. The Batter prepared a powerful strike but the Judge had other plans.

She raised her wand up and aimed it at him, catching him off guard as he was preparing his attack. Without warning a white narwhal blasted off from her wand, likely to be a powerful attack as her retaliation.

With one quick strike of his bat, the Batter used his attack to deflect the narwhal off, sounding off with a land metallic clank against its bones as it was sent towards the watery plastic.

She stood and watched as her projectile was sent towards the ocean of plastic to her direction, gazing at his work with a slight awe. Welp, he certainly wasn't kidding about his skills, and the bat he tooled around wasn't for show.

"Alright-y then." The Judge could feel the hits he inflicted on her still as she motioned for him to yield. "That's enough proof for me that you're strong enough to corner me, not to mention nearly have me drop off a building unknowingly." With that she cleared her throat and dusted her dress clean as the Batter nodded while straightening himself up.

"Here's your card then, you'll need to access that red box down there that allows you to go to the other Zones." Star approached the Batter as she handed him a small card that she fished out of her dress pocket. "You've never been to the other Zones before, right?"

"No." He shook his head in response.

"Ah. Well, that's only allowed for Zone 1, so I don't exactly know how you'll get to the other Zones, but I'm sure you can figure it out."

"Thanks."

"And I guess you can see me in the other Zones too, I pass by a few of them sometimes."

"Alright."

"Now, just get down there and go to the door on the right side of the building, then you're good to go. Oh and make sure to grab something from the storage room in the middle, it might help you in your quest."

"Okay." With that, the Batter quickly made his descent down the ladder of the roof and made to the balcony right before going down on the metallic ground completely.

He followed her instructions, grabbing three luck tickets from the storage room, and heading towards the door. He could've entered but the door was locked. He attempted two more times to open the door by rotating the knob with his hand but to no avail. He then looked up at the roof of the building with a sigh before he made his ascent on the ladder towards the roof.

Luckily the Judge was still there and he approached her.

"The door's locked." The Batter spoke which startled her a little. "Can you open it?"

"Oh. Dang. I forgot I locked it since I prefer going up to the roof to go outside…" She mumbled, which luckily just ran past the Batter's ear. "Sorry, I forgot about locking it, let's just go through the third floor and make our way down, alright?"

"Sure." He answered before Star hopped on the ladder heading towards the third floor of the yellow. The Batter followed right after her as he found himself right in a small brightly-lit yellow room filled with stacks of crates.

The room itself wasn't anything unusual in the eyes of the Batter, it was mundane and its purpose appeared to be for storage. There was only a door in the right side of the room plus white-board with wheels. The latter had nothing written on them though. Star headed for the door as she told Marco to follow her.

Once Marco stepped through the door beside the whiteboard, he had to go through a flight of stairs to follow Star. After the stairs, they were both at the second floor, which housed a warmer vibe. There was a bed that sat in front of a window with a bedside table. There were also two closets in the room which could only take a wild guess to know whose clothes they contained. The door leading down to the first floor was just found in the opposite end of the third floor door.

After going through one last flight of stairs, the Batter and the Judge made it to the first floor, which contained nothing but more crates and two doors that stood across from each other. The Judge quickly made her to the door on the right and opened it before going to the one on the left and opening it as well.

"There you go, the thing you'll need to head on out of here is just beyond the left door, it's the red box and all you need to do to get transported into the nothingness is to touch it." Star explained, as she gestured to the left door. "Once inside the nothingness, you'll able to see doors, to the different Zones, which are marked by number, and again, you can only go to Zone 1, alright?"

"Got it. Thanks." The Batter nodded to the Judge before heading to the left door.

The left door led to a narrow path which ended with a large platform containing the floating red box the Judge was talking about. The Batter stepped closer to the box and observed its features. It was definitely just a plain red cube with its only differing feature was a small white and round circle on the middle of its front surface.

With his bat in hand and himself all set, the Batter let out a small sigh before his hand touched the cube. Instantly, the Batter disappeared from the Judge's sight and Zone 0 altogether, ready to start his quest in purifying the world.


End file.
